Planning a Trip to Venice? Here are Some Things to Consider.

This post about Venice contains some advice for first-time visitors, including when to visit, considerations in planning lodging, accessibility, getting around, church etiquette and, of course, getting that gondola ride!

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T his place is weird,” my daughter said as we sped into Venice from the airport on our water taxi. It was a hair-raising ride for me as the driver had propped my bag of camera equipment at the very top of a Seussian stack of luggage at the front of the boat. My younger daughter had not been enthusiastic about this trip, but in a feeble attempt to invoke some excitement I talked it up as being like the city in “Pokémon Heroes.” We do what we have to.

Yes, Venice is “weird.” Rather, it is unique — a mixture of decaying beauty mixed with a melancholy undercurrent of eventual loss. Even in the heat of August there are reminders (water bubbling up from the streets, for one) that the city is sinking. There’s a sense that you may be standing in a future Atlantis, and you can imagine the city being visited by underwater archaeologists of the future, swimming past the famous columns, recovering ancient artifacts like cheap parasols and selfie sticks.

Time of Year

In August the heat and humidity is intense and the streets and boats are crowded. We asked our gondolier what his advice was for the best time to visit. His reply? “April, maybe…it gets busy around Easter weekend but the weather is more mild, or October. Don’t come in February. In February there is carnival and the tourists come and they get drunk and it is no good.”

Location of Your Lodging

Trudging through the streets with your heavy suitcases a significant distance to your hotel or AirBNB may not be what you want to do right when you get off the boat at your stop (hey, pack less). If not, look at that map in advance and think about where you are going to stay and what getting there will look like when you arrive.

“Oh, our hotel is right here. This is where we always stay,” the smiling Australian couple told us as we descended from our shared water taxi at Rialto and searched the map to plan the walk to our hotel which, fortunately, was only a few streets away. Travel envy is a real thing. I wanted a hotel right there. I wanted to be able to smile and say, “Oh, this is where we always stay…”

We saw plenty of other bewildered tourists toting around luggage farther than we did. You don’t have to be one of them (unless your sense of adventure includes just showing up and figuring it out when you get there.)

And, when you’re planning your lodging, think about the area. The San Marco area started to seem like a crowded maze of shops from which there was no escape and I started to get the urge to jump on a boat just to get out. But, there is an advantage in staying there if shopping is your goal or if you want to go to the area around St. Mark’s frequently. Other parts of the island seemed more quiet and less commercial. Furthermore, if you do happen to go to Venice in August (despite my warnings), areas of Venice outside of San Marco may not be as crowded.

Accessibility

I’m an Occupational Therapist by background. The layout of Venice re-activated my therapist brain. How might I navigate this city of stairs, bridges, and canals if I had mobility limitations?

I watched the delivery men run through the streets in the morning transporting hand carts full of items for the restaurants up and down small flights of stairs and over bridges and wondered how someone in a wheelchair might navigate this city. There seemed to be a ramp here and there: near the canal, at the train station, at the vaporetto stop.

I suspected that, for someone with mobility limitations staying by the canal or visiting by cruise ship might be options, but that only covers a small portion of the city. However, this website states that 70% of Venice is accessible for people with mobility limitations.

Water taxis may also be difficult to ascend and descend, even for those of us who are in relatively good shape. As the water level changes the level (and the gap) between boat and dock can vary considerably. I took a flying leap off the boat, though the driver extended his arm in support. It would have been difficult to get off even with his help if I had even an arthritic knee (thought I’m on my way there).

As usual, there are are many online resources specifically related to navigating Venice for people with disabilities:

Transportation

Once you’re in Venice your transport choices are twofold: foot or boat. Take care of those feet; if you wear a tracker you’ll likely be going far beyond your step goal (unless you ride a boat all day). Your boat options are several. Note that I don’t mention the gondola here; I’m saving it for later. It’s nice to slowly see the canal by gondola, but in this era it’s for sightseeing and there are more efficient forms of transportation.

Vaporetto:

This is Venice’s public transportation system, and your least expensive option for getting around Venice by boat. But, especially during peak times, these boats can be packed — which may be an issue for the more “crowd sensitive.”

When I lusted for travel, but didn’t think it was actually an option for me, one of my favorite forms of travel porn was watching Rick Steves on public television (now watching on Amazon and YouTube). “Oh Rick!”. My daughter faked a swoon as I explained that Rick had said that the vaporetto was one of the best ways to see the whole of the Grand Canal (vs gondola or vs renting a private water taxi.)

My husband did not agree with Rick on this one. While I loved it, it took coaxing to get him back on the boat after that first crowded trip. If you go earlier in the day and start at a less crowded stop you may be one of the fortunate ones to get a seat right up at the front of the boat, which happened to us later. This did turn out to be a good way to see the canal if you have the patience to wait while the boat makes its frequent passenger stops.

You can purchase passes for the vaporetto at any ACTV stop. Or to forego the queue, you can purchase a tourist pass online from a range of 1-7 days, ranging from 20 – 60 Euro at time of this writing.

Water Taxi:

You can book a group water taxi ride, or you can hire your own private water taxi — but that can be prohibitively expensive. A short trip from our hotel to the train station cost us about 65 €. Longer trips will cost even more.

Navigating Venice

“Prepare to get lost.” If you watch any travel show or YouTuber, they always say the same thing, because it’s true. GPS technology, however, has changed navigating around Venice as much as it has everywhere else. As our gondolier put it, “There is Google Maps. Everyone uses Google Maps.”

Unless, of course, you are one of the (perhaps sensible) few who has not come into the modern age and doesn’t carry a device every second of the day. “Well-marked” isn’t a term you could use to describe the streets of Venice. I found myself navigating toward big landmarks like Rialto or San Marco and then navigating from there or navigating by that piece of art or this building. . Philosophies differ as to whether getting lost is a “good” thing or a “bad” thing. Getting lost is sometimes wonderful and you find the unexpected. Put away the iPhone or even the map for a little while and just wander.

The hall of Hospital SS Giovanni e Paolo in Venice.

My daughter and I wandered across the city and found ourselves…in the hospital. But not because we fell off a bridge! “This is like no hospital I’ve ever seen,” she remarked. We saw signs indicating there were, in fact, actual hospital departments off to the side of the main corridor where there might actually be patients. But the silent columned and marble halls seemed to us like…art, rather than the usual aseptic hospital halls.

My husband Ted, lost in the mid afternoon heat of Venice for two and a half hours, had a different experience. He described it as the “worst experience of [his] life.” Really? I know some of the experiences he’s had, and this was the worst? He finally found his way back after working through the language barrier to ask a local man for directions. But do you know what he has in exchange for his suffering? Stories.

Churches

The dress code when visiting churches in Italy is to keep your knees and shoulder covered. However, my actual experience, once there, was that many churches didn’t enforce this dress code as strictly as I expected. I saw some women walking into some of the smaller churches to look around for quick visits sporting tank tops and shorts.

Don’t do this — follow the dress code out of respect for customs and not just because you might get turned away at the door if you don’t. But if you are wearing that tank dress because of the daytime heat and forget your cover up, don’t panic. I noticed they were selling inexpensive scarves at St. Mark’s.

Getting that Gondola

Yes, it’s touristy. And, yes, it’s still a must-do at least on your first visit to Venice. Know that you don’t need to pre-book your Gondola ride (unless you want a gondola serenade…then you might want to prearrange). There are many many gondoliers waiting around with boats available all the time. Some will have prices pre-posted, some you will need to walk up to and negotiate a price. It can be pricey, and prices can vary.

Our gondolier on that trip spoke English well and was significantly more chatty than our daytime gondolier. This gave us the chance to ply him with questions like mad kindergartners. Why does the gondola track straight so well with one paddle? How does a gondolier tolerate operating a boat all day in the heat and humidity? Answer: go slow and drink a tremendous amount of water]. Had Venice changed significantly since he was a child there? Answer: Yes! Can a person operate their own boat anywhere in Venice? Answer: Yes, you can!

However, even if I could bring my own kayak I don’t think I would venture out into the crowded canals. He seemed to be a movie buff and gave us unsolicited restaurant advice I wish I’d received when I got to Venice (where Clooney eats!), and talked up various filming locations.

We also found that he lives on one of the outlying islands. His perspective? “It’s nice because the tourists come during the day, but go home around 5 or 6 and then it’s quiet and you can have a beer.”

And a couple of other things:

Don’t do this!

Be Respectful

It should always go without saying wherever you go, but if you decide to visit be respectful.

I don’t know if some of the litter and graffiti I saw around Venice was from locals or tourists — possibly a combination of both.

I saw tourists feeding (and handling) pigeons despite the signs everywhere asking them not to do this (and despite that the pigeons of Venice are the same as the pigeons of London or the pigeons of Seattle). I’d like to think that we weren’t like the “bad” tourists to which our gondolier referred. However…there was that incident with the street performer and the beer. We don’t talk about that. (Though my daughter noted: “Now THAT was magical!”) We just post it on YouTube.

And as always: Take your time

Venice will be a “go back again sometime” destination for me because I made the typical tourist mistake of not scheduling enough time there. I would recommend at least a week, more if you have it.

Taking more time will give you the chance to relax and explore Venice and the surrounding islands as they should be enjoyed. We have friends who lived in Italy for two years. When they returned to the US, their young son was, “walking like an old Italian man”: slow paced, head slightly bowed, hands behind back. This is the pace you want to take visiting Venice. (And early morning is a great time to slowly stroll around the streets of Venice, as I noted in this post.)

About The Author

The chief (and currently only) blogeuse here at PNW and Beyond. Cheryl is mostly retired from life as an OT and loves to write, so is blogging about a combination of travel and Pacific Northwest events, places, and things to do. She sometimes also does web design and freelance writing at CJ Creatives when she can drag herself away from her own blogs and get herself to send queries or pursue web design clients. She also has a personal blog in various stages of construction. When she's not writing or blogging, she's busy driving her daughter around, drinking coffee, hiking, kayaking, trying to become a better photographer, trying to get back to cycling or riding her Vespa, hanging out with her spouse, or taking care of the house, but gets claustrophobic if she can't get out and wander enough. She usually does not write about herself in third person.

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